For a number of years, a coordinated campaign of false and defamatory claims about Charles Linden has been active across Facebook groups, Reddit threads, review platforms, and personal websites. This page addresses those claims directly — not with legal threats, but with facts.
Charles Linden's history, record, and credentials are publicly verifiable. The false claims made about him online are not. We document the difference here.
The Source: A Competitor With a Commercial Motive
The false claims about Charles Linden do not arise from a broad community of dissatisfied customers. The origin is traceable and confirmed: the campaign began with a CBT practitioner who positions himself publicly as an anxiety expert and who had a direct commercial interest in undermining The Linden Method. This individual submitted the 2011 ASA complaint — not as a concerned member of the public, but as a competitor whose clients were choosing The Linden Method over his own services.
That same individual, and a number of his colleagues, have subsequently been the subject of multiple formal reports for harassment, defamation, and threats directed at Charles Linden and The Linden Method. Several of those colleagues have lost professional positions — in the NHS and in private practice — as a direct result of their conduct in this campaign. The ASA complaint was not the end of the effort; it was the beginning of a sustained multi-year attack.
It is a significant irony that a practitioner who presents himself as an anxiety expert and advocate for clients has dedicated considerable time and effort to harassing and defaming a man who has helped 650,000 people recover completely — results his own approach has demonstrably failed to produce for his clients. The purpose of the campaign is to ensure that web searches for Charles Linden or The Linden Method return damaging content prominently enough to deter people from engaging with the program. The fact that you have found this page suggests the strategy has its limits.
False Claim: Charles Linden Fabricated His Recovery Story
Charles Linden's recovery story — that he developed severe anxiety disorder in 1995, was largely housebound, tried multiple conventional treatments without achieving full recovery, and resolved his condition completely in 1996 through a structured approach he developed himself — is a matter of documented personal and family record.
It has been recounted in published books, television and radio interviews, national newspaper features, and 30 years of public activity. His family, his medical history, and his public record are entirely consistent with the account he has always given. The claim that it is fabricated has never been substantiated by a single piece of evidence.
False Claim: Charles Linden Is Under Investigation
No investigation of Charles Linden by any law enforcement agency, regulator, trading standards authority, or professional body is active or has resulted in any finding. This claim is asserted without evidence, repeated without corroboration, and has been repeated in exactly the same language across multiple accounts and platforms — the hallmark of a coordinated false narrative rather than an independently formed concern.
False Claim: The Linden Method Runs a Gay Conversion Program
This is among the most malicious of the false claims made about Charles Linden and The Linden Method. It is entirely fabricated. No such program has ever existed. The Linden Method is an anxiety disorder recovery program that has always welcomed members of all backgrounds and orientations. The claim appears to have been invented specifically to cause maximum reputational harm by attaching a damaging and emotive label to The Linden Method. It is false in its entirety.
False Claim: Testimonials Are Invented
Every testimonial published by The Linden Method represents a real member who contacted us voluntarily and gave permission for their account to be shared. In 30 years of operation, no court, regulator, or independent investigation has found that any Linden Method testimonial was fabricated. The allegation has no evidential basis and is made by people who cannot verify it.
What Is Actually True: The Public Record
- Charles Linden founded The Linden Method in 1996 following his own complete recovery from anxiety disorder
- The program has operated legally and continuously in the UK for 30 years
- It has guided 650,000+ people in 60+ countries to complete recovery
- Charles is a published author with over 300 published works on anxiety, recovery, and psychology
- He is a television presenter and has appeared on BBC, ITV, Sky News, and Channel 4
- He is a consultant to professional sports organisations, television and film studios, and major corporations
- The only regulatory finding ever made against The Linden Method was an ASA ruling on advertising language in 2011 — adjusted at the time, never repeated
- No criminal, civil, or regulatory proceeding has ever resulted in a finding against Charles Linden or The Linden Method
Why This Campaign Exists
In this case the motivation is confirmed and documented: the campaign originated with a CBT practitioner who had a direct commercial interest in deterring people from choosing The Linden Method. His approach — and those of his colleagues — has demonstrably failed to produce the outcomes for clients that The Linden Method has produced for 650,000 people. Rather than improving his own methods, he chose to attempt to destroy ours.
The campaign has outlasted its originators in some respects — false content spreads and persists online independently once it is published. But the source of the original false allegations, the 2011 ASA complaint, and the coordinated harassment that followed is not a mystery. It is a matter of confirmed record. Multiple formal reports have been made against those involved. Several have faced professional consequences, including the loss of NHS and private practice positions. The conduct itself — not the claims about Charles Linden — is what destroyed those careers.
If you have encountered specific claims about Charles Linden that concern you and are not addressed here, contact us at questions@thelindencentre.org. We will respond to every enquiry with facts.
